Morning Links: Sarcophagus Edition

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston doubled its reward for the recovery of 13 paintings that were stolen from its premises in 1990. It will now pay $10 million to anyone with information that leads to the safe recovery of the works, but there is a catch: the offer stands only until the end of the year. [Boston Globe]

Deutsche Bank is planning a new art venue in Berlin, a followup to its Deutsche Guggenheim, which was shuttered in 2013. [The Art Newspaper]

A look back at that time the Royal Academy in London almost sold off its prized Michelangelo in the 1970s. [The Art Newspaper]

The Talent

The Akron Art Museum has hired Ellen Rudolph as its chief curator. It’s a homecoming for Rudolph, who was curator of exhibitions, interim chief curator, and then senior curator between 2008 through 2013. [Crain’s Cleveland Business]

Criticism

Restaurant critic Pete Wells on why he has no plans to review the much-ballyhooed Noma Mexico restaurant in Tulum. [The New York Times]

Lives

Rand Castile, a major booster of Japanese art in the United States who served as director of Japan Society’s performing arts program, died at 78. He was a skilled fencer, taught chancery cursive, helped put together the first Grand Sumo Tournament in the United States, and contributed to ARTnews. [The New York Times]